Courtship Rite
Encyclopedia
Courtship Rite is a science fiction
novel
by American writer Donald Kingsbury
, originally serialized in Analog
magazine in 1982. The book is set in the same universe as some of Kingsbury's other stories, such as "Shipwright" (1978) and the unpublished The Finger Pointing Solward.
In the UK, the novel was entitled Geta, and in France, Parade nuptiale.
Courtship Rite was the first winner of the Compton Crook Award
for best first novel, and was nominated for the Hugo Award
for Best Novel
in 1983.
, so the moon is only visible from half the planet. The planet's day is about half as long as Earth's. Geta is much drier than Earth, with eleven separate bodies of water large enough to be called seas; most of the land area is desert.
The Njarae Sea, the largest, is a narrow body extending around a quarter of the planet's circumference from northeast to southwest. Much of the story takes place in lands along the east coast of the Njarae.
Terraforming
was never, or very minimally, initiated on the planet's biosphere
, leaving it very inhospitable to the descendants of the original settlers, who have become mythic, God-like creatures to its denizens.
Apparently the only Earth-life on Geta are humans, bee
s, and the "Eight Sacred Plants", including wheat
, soybean
s, barley
, and potato
es.
Native, "profane" life includes plants, a wide variety of sea-creatures and "insects", but no large land-animals.
Each has a different biochemistry, so each is largely toxic to the other.
Parts of certain profane species can be eaten if prepared correctly.
As a result, food is a commodity that is very precious on Geta, and in most places the only source of meat is humans themselves. Cannibalism
has insinuated itself into the very fabric of social and religious life.
On the other hand, humans are not at risk of infection from native bacteria, and seem not to have brought any pathogens with them.
The planet seems to have been settled centuries before the time of the story by a small group, possibly not by choice.
Apparently, they made little use of printed materials, which could be read in a world without advanced technology. Most knowledge of history and the larger universe was lost, the remainder preserved by oral tradition, in "Chants" and stories.
The settlers' ship remains in orbit, but its nature has been forgotten; it is generally seen as "God". The Horse survives only as a piece in chess
, named for a "mythical sidestepping insect
".
Courtship Rite is set in a time of rapidly advancing technology.
The Getans are past masters of biology
and genetics
, capable of modifying organisms gene
by gene.
Apparently this knowledge was maintained from the time of landing, being necessary for survival.
They also make use of steam engine
s and electricity
, but are handicapped by an apparent lack of fossil fuels to smelt metals and provide power.
They have sailing ships on the seas, and sailplanes, but no powered aircraft
.
As a consequence, few Getans travel far from home; a few have become famous by walking all the way around the world.
At the beginning of the story, one clan, the Kaiel, has developed radio
, and are exploiting the advantage of communicating much faster than their rivals. They also develop bicycle
s and other pedal-powered vehicles using light, metal-spoked wheels.
They have also learned how to extract information from a "Frozen Voice of God" — an optical data-storage crystal left over from the original settlers.
Socially and politically, Geta has no nation-states in the way we recognize the term.
The "priest clans" have precedence, governing territories and the resident members of the underclans.
In particular, they have the power of deciding, during times of famine
who must make the ultimate "Contribution to the Race":
All individuals are rated in various ways on their "kalothi", or fitness to survive. When the need arises, those lowest on the list are required to perform "Ritual Suicide".
The ordinary clans have generally evolved into differing niches based on some attribute or inclination of their founders.
For instance, the Ivieth specialize in transportation and haulage duties. "Before puberty an Ivieth hauled his load or was walked to death and eaten."
The o'Tghalie have an ability to perform complex mathematical problems.
Ultimately, all the priest clans are trying to attain dominance of the planet through the use of new technology, propaganda, treachery, and "war", a new concept in this world. Previously, killing was done merely in order to provide food.
Jo Walton
remarked that Courtship Rite "is about a distant generation of colonists on a planet with no usable animals. This is the book with everything, where everything includes cannibalism, polyamory
, evolution and getting tattoos so your skin will make more interesting leather when you’re dead."
, although troubled by its didactic libertarianism and Social Darwinism as well as the way Kingsbury "rigs his Getan society" to establish his political ideas, concluded that "the book is a considerable accomplishment, that it's a feast (of the imagination) and great fun while it lasted, within its covers.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by American writer Donald Kingsbury
Donald Kingsbury
Donald MacDonald Kingsbury is an American–Canadian science fiction author. Kingsbury taught mathematics at McGill University, Montreal, from 1956 until his retirement in 1986.- Books :...
, originally serialized in Analog
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
magazine in 1982. The book is set in the same universe as some of Kingsbury's other stories, such as "Shipwright" (1978) and the unpublished The Finger Pointing Solward.
In the UK, the novel was entitled Geta, and in France, Parade nuptiale.
Courtship Rite was the first winner of the Compton Crook Award
Compton Crook Award
The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best first novel of the year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc, at their annual Baltimore-area science fiction convention, Balticon, held on Memorial Day weekend in the...
for best first novel, and was nominated for the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
in 1983.
Geta
Geta is a harsh planet settled by humanity centuries before the novel begins. The planet has one large satellite, Scowlmoon; the two are in a mutual tidal lockTidal locking
Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, the same side of the Earth's Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner...
, so the moon is only visible from half the planet. The planet's day is about half as long as Earth's. Geta is much drier than Earth, with eleven separate bodies of water large enough to be called seas; most of the land area is desert.
The Njarae Sea, the largest, is a narrow body extending around a quarter of the planet's circumference from northeast to southwest. Much of the story takes place in lands along the east coast of the Njarae.
Terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
was never, or very minimally, initiated on the planet's biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
, leaving it very inhospitable to the descendants of the original settlers, who have become mythic, God-like creatures to its denizens.
Apparently the only Earth-life on Geta are humans, bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s, and the "Eight Sacred Plants", including wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
s, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, and potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es.
Native, "profane" life includes plants, a wide variety of sea-creatures and "insects", but no large land-animals.
Each has a different biochemistry, so each is largely toxic to the other.
Parts of certain profane species can be eaten if prepared correctly.
As a result, food is a commodity that is very precious on Geta, and in most places the only source of meat is humans themselves. Cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
has insinuated itself into the very fabric of social and religious life.
On the other hand, humans are not at risk of infection from native bacteria, and seem not to have brought any pathogens with them.
The planet seems to have been settled centuries before the time of the story by a small group, possibly not by choice.
Apparently, they made little use of printed materials, which could be read in a world without advanced technology. Most knowledge of history and the larger universe was lost, the remainder preserved by oral tradition, in "Chants" and stories.
The settlers' ship remains in orbit, but its nature has been forgotten; it is generally seen as "God". The Horse survives only as a piece in chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, named for a "mythical sidestepping insect
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
".
Courtship Rite is set in a time of rapidly advancing technology.
The Getans are past masters of biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
, capable of modifying organisms gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
by gene.
Apparently this knowledge was maintained from the time of landing, being necessary for survival.
They also make use of steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s and electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, but are handicapped by an apparent lack of fossil fuels to smelt metals and provide power.
They have sailing ships on the seas, and sailplanes, but no powered aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
.
As a consequence, few Getans travel far from home; a few have become famous by walking all the way around the world.
At the beginning of the story, one clan, the Kaiel, has developed radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and are exploiting the advantage of communicating much faster than their rivals. They also develop bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s and other pedal-powered vehicles using light, metal-spoked wheels.
They have also learned how to extract information from a "Frozen Voice of God" — an optical data-storage crystal left over from the original settlers.
Socially and politically, Geta has no nation-states in the way we recognize the term.
The "priest clans" have precedence, governing territories and the resident members of the underclans.
In particular, they have the power of deciding, during times of famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
who must make the ultimate "Contribution to the Race":
All individuals are rated in various ways on their "kalothi", or fitness to survive. When the need arises, those lowest on the list are required to perform "Ritual Suicide".
The ordinary clans have generally evolved into differing niches based on some attribute or inclination of their founders.
For instance, the Ivieth specialize in transportation and haulage duties. "Before puberty an Ivieth hauled his load or was walked to death and eaten."
The o'Tghalie have an ability to perform complex mathematical problems.
Plot introduction
The novel details the attempts of two of the priest-clans, the Kaiel and the Mnankrei, to expand into territory controlled by the Stgal.Ultimately, all the priest clans are trying to attain dominance of the planet through the use of new technology, propaganda, treachery, and "war", a new concept in this world. Previously, killing was done merely in order to provide food.
Jo Walton
Jo Walton
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award...
remarked that Courtship Rite "is about a distant generation of colonists on a planet with no usable animals. This is the book with everything, where everything includes cannibalism, polyamory
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
, evolution and getting tattoos so your skin will make more interesting leather when you’re dead."
Reception
John CluteJohn Clute
John Frederick Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."...
, although troubled by its didactic libertarianism and Social Darwinism as well as the way Kingsbury "rigs his Getan society" to establish his political ideas, concluded that "the book is a considerable accomplishment, that it's a feast (of the imagination) and great fun while it lasted, within its covers.